Chapter 3: Lost

Nessie's POV

As as soon as the bell rang at the end of the day I nearly sprinted out the door. Eager to get out of thay hellhole that was school. Okay, so it wasn't that bad. The one and only advantage of going to a brand new high school is that walking down the hallways wasn't a constant, painful reminder of my brother.

As soon as I got home I could see that my dad wasn't home. His job as a doctor meant that often times he wasn't home as much as he liked. Especially now that I was living with him and "needed constant 24/7 supervision," according to him. That was precisely why he installed a camera on every door and window in the house. So that if I snuck out or didn't come home right after school he would know about it.

I fixed myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for a snack. No matter how much I ate I was never full these days. I heard a noise upstairs and tensed up. Until I saw that it was just Lulu and Shasta. My dad's two dogs. Siberian Huskies. A breeding pair more specifically. My father was also a dog breeder. He bred Siberian Huskies more specifically. Lulu was currently pregnant with a litter of ten puppies.

As soon as I had moved in my dad had made it my sole responsibility to take care of them. I had to feed them, walk them, bathe them, make sure they had enough water etc...As of my father put it I needed to "start learning responsibility," so I had absolutely no say in the matter. I will never admit it to my father in a million years but I actually liked caring for them. They always got happy to see me. Especially Lulu. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we were both expectant mothers. Also, unlike people, they didn't judge me for what I had done.

As soon as I had finished my snack I grabbed both of their leashes and we headed back out. It was freezing outside but I didn't have a choice. My dad would have my head if he came home and discovered I hadn't walked them. I had to admit that the scenery here was beautiful. So different from home. Nature had a certain peace to it that the city didn't have. Again, something else I would never admit to my father. I would never hear the end of it if he found out that there were things that I did like about being here.

I decided to take a walk through the forest this time. I hadn't ventured into the forest and I was curious and wanted to explore it's beauty. The dogs were confused by my sudden change in direction. They'd grown accustomed to the path that my dad, and now I, had always taken. They followed nonetheless.

There was no clear path as I walked through the forest. Clearly humans didn't go this way very often. That didn't deter me in the slightest though. I looked and listened for all the wildlife. There wasn't much. Not much that I could see anyway.

Being out here away from everything and everyone gave me a lot of time to think. There was nothing I could do to stop myself from missing home and missing all my friends back home. Here I just felt so alone. Yeah I had my dad but we didn't really talk all that much. Not unless he was lecturing me about everything I'd done wrong back home and how I needed to get my life in order. I had no friends. I had no one. That's why I had grown so attached to my father's dogs so quickly. They didn't care about my past and they kept me company.

Pain. It was a feeling that I was very familiar with. Yet nobody, not even my family, knew how much I have been hurting inside since my brother's death. There were times, when I wasn't drunk, where I had thought about ending it all. How easy it would be to stab myself with a knife, overdose on medication, jump in front of a moving train, or even drown myself. I had gotten so close to ending my own life so many times. Yet something always stopped me.

My parents thought I was just being rebellious but they didn't realize how much everything just hurt. I found it almost impossible to get out of bed sometimes but I always managed. To my family I was just a rebellious teenager. Not a girl in pain.

I sighed and looked at my watch. An hour had passed already and I decided to head back. I turned around and suddenly realized that I had no idea where I was. I had exactly gone in a straight line and now I had lost track of where I was. Panic began to set in as I looked for my phone. Of course I had forgotten my cellphone. I had left it on the kitchen table when I made my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. My father, who had decided to install a tracker on my phone to see where I was at all times, wouldn't even be able to find me.

Lulu and Shasta emitted a low growl. I looked to see what was wrong. There was a grizzly bear behind us. The animal reared up on its hind legs and suddenly charged toward us. I ran as fast as I could with the dogs. I tripped over a tree branch on the ground that I had not seen. My ankle made a loud popping sound. I was sure it was broken or twisted. I screamed as I saw the bear running toward us. The dogs barked like crazy. Both of them standing in front of me as if they were trying to protect me.

"Nessie!"

I wasn't sure if I was delusional because I was about to die or if I really did hear Alice's voice. I settled on delusional as the bear closed in on Lulu, Shasta and I. My mind was making stuff up just as I was about to die. I closed my eyes and waited for the end.

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